Groves angry about being shoved by Froch, will speak with his solicitor

By Boxing News - 03/10/2014 - Comments

groves674By Scott Gilfoid: Challenger George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) is upset after having been shoved out of the blue by IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch earlier today in their meeting with the press at the Wembley Stadium to try and promote interest in their May 31st rematch. While Groves was standing facing Froch for what should have been a face off, Froch gave Groves a shove that knocked him back several feet.

Needless to say, Groves wasn’t happy about it because he feels that Froch has no right to start attacking him outside of the ring while they’re trying to promote the fight. Groves said he’ll be speaking to his solicitor [lawyer] about the incident.

“I’m going to speak to my solicitor,” Groves said to ITV. “We signed for a fight on May 31st. I don’t expect him to lay hands on me now. We’re supposed to be professional fighters, licensed fighters. He feels that it’s appropriate that he can lay hands on me, especially with an established champion 36-years of age. Shocking.”

It’s unclear what the laws are for assault in the UK, but in other countries like the U.S, shoving a person is considered an assault depending on which state. Intentionally shoving a person can lead to big problems, especially if the person shoved falls down and suffers an injury.

If Groves feels like he’s going to be shoved or attacked by Froch during their press conferences together, it’s going to make it tough for him to be on the same stage as him. That could be a problem if Froch chooses to continue lashing out physically rather than using his mouth to converse with Groves.

I can’t blame Groves one bit for being upset about being shoved. If you’re taking with someone and they resort to putting their hands on you in a physical manner, then it’s going to make it difficult to interact with that person unless you were willing to resort to that level of behavior. For fighters to be doing this kind of thing outside of the ring, it’s too risky because of the physical damage they can do to each other. The Froch-Groves II rematch is only two months away and there’s too much money on the line for either of them to get cut in a fight outside of the ring.

Froch needs to be mature enough to handle normal conversation with Groves without feeling the need to physically shove him. Groves wasn’t touching Froch, so there was no need for Froch to push him like that.



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